


Poison

by DarklydreamingMorgan



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Assassins & Hitmen, Blood, Blood Magic, Blood and Gore, Death, Eventual Smut, Hunters & Hunting, Sex, Supernatural - Freeform, Violence, Witches, agnst, catmilla, contract killer, killer, vampire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-18 03:16:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4690178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarklydreamingMorgan/pseuds/DarklydreamingMorgan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Assassin AU<br/>Laura will give everything she has for happiness, and for love. But it's a dark road ahead of her, and at the end of the journey she may just find that it's possible to fail at both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey gentle readers, this is my first fan fic (first story ever actually) that I've tried writing. I've never written a full length story before let alone post it online so any constructive criticism would really be appreciated!  
> Hope you enjoy.  
> DDM - DarklydreamingMorgan -

Laura Hollis dragged her suitcase across campus and made her way over to her where her dorm room was supposed to be. She occasionally glanced at the map she held in her hand to make sure she was heading in the right direction, but she didn't actually need it. She’d spent weeks memorizing the layout of Silas University and its surrounding woodland, reading maps and blueprints, making sure she had all the information she needed before she enrolled for the semester.

Background research was an essential part of an assassin’s job after all.

She looked around her at the university grounds as she walked. It was actually a remarkably nice looking campus.The buildings were old and picturesque but were beautifully maintained and there was greenery in-between and surrounding most of the buildings, not to mention the forest that surrounded the entire campus and the lake that could be seen at the edge of it. If it wasn't such a strange school with an unprecedented amount of disappearances and strange deaths, Laura might actually have wanted to attend here.

This job wasn't going to be easy like many of her other contracts, and she needed to be prepared if she wanted to succeed. Her mark, Betty, the daughter of an old and powerful witch was supposed to be her room-mate for the semester. And although Laura was sure Betty wouldn't survive that long, she’d enrolled in the full semester anyway. The large sum of money offered for killing Betty wasn't the only reason Laura had chosen to accept this contract.  
After years of searching, she’d found a recent lead connecting Silas University to her mother’s death, and by taking the job, she had the perfect opportunity to investigate it.

  
Laura looked down at the map again feigning a look of confusion on her face as two tutors walked past. It wouldn't do to have a student looking like she knew her way perfectly around campus on her first day. She needed to blend in.  
Other new students were mingling together around her, waiting for the campus tour, saying goodbye to their families, and making new friends. Laura wasn't interested in that, she hadn't come to socialise and her dad hadn't come to say goodbye anyway. Papa Hollis – as she liked to call him- was busy on a hunting trip in Australia, stalking a rouge werewolf.  
She ignored them as she walked past, she wanted to unpack before she went on the tour.

  
When Laura finally made it to her dorm building she was glad she was in such good shape otherwise the weapons she had hidden in her suitcase would have made it extremely difficult to haul the thing up the stairs.  
She found her room without much effort and knocked loudly, waited, then opened the door, Betty wasn't there, good. She’d be able to unpack her equipment undisturbed.

  
She quickly pulled her heavy suitcase inside and unpacked her belongings. She opened the secret compartment installed in her suitcase that held her weapons and took the smaller ones out, hiding them under a drawer in her dresser, deciding to leave the bigger ones like her bow strapped inside her suitcase for convenience, before shoving it under the bed out of sight.

Laura was exhausted, she’d been helping her dad track the rouge werewolf in Australia before she left to complete this contract and the plane ride to Austria had taken over 20 hours.She jumped on her bed, over the covers. Punching her yellow pillow to make it more comfortable before laying down and relaxing. She was jet lagged and away from her dad, but she was excited too. Betty was just the beginning of the mess that was happening at Silas right now, and Laura had a lot of work to do if she ever hoped to find out the truth and get out of here unscathed.

Laura closed her eyes tiredly and yawned; she wanted to rest a while before the tour began in an hour.  
‘just a few minutes’ she told herself.  
But it wasn't long before sleep claimed her.


	2. Chapter 2

Laura woke to the unwelcome sound of timid, rapid knocks on the door. She groaned and brushed hair out of her face before reaching over and grabbing her phone from next to the bed, 6:28pm. Oh crap, she hadn’t meant to sleep that long. She quickly got up of the bed and headed for the door, noting that Betty still hadn’t been back to the room yet. But she suddenly paused when she noticed a t-shirt on her room-mates bed that hadn’t been there when she fell asleep. ‘Huh, so she has been here then’ Laura thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by another series of short sharp raps on the door. Laura reached over and yanked the door open to reveal a girl with long curly red hair, who had one hand raised ready to knock again and the other cradling a bag of homemade brownies to her chest.

“Oh hi, you must be Laura! I’m Lola Perry, your floor don, but everyone just calls me Perry-”, the girl said a little nervously.  
Laura started to say hi but was cut off as Perry continued.“-and, well, I noticed that you weren’t at the tour of the grounds earlier, and I thought maybe that you were sick or something so I thought I’d come introduce myself and bring you these”.  
Perry held out the bag of brownies to her and Laura wordlessly accepted them with a small smile while Perry continued to rapidly fire speech at her.  
“So anyway seeing as you missed it today, I’d be happy to give you a tour tomorrow if you want and maybe introduce you to some cool people?”  
Laura had to laugh internally at Perry saying ‘cool’ people’, like a soccer mum did, but the girl seemed nice enough.  
“Sure that’d be great, and thanks for the brownies! I’m actually starving” Laura said with a grin as her stomach growled seemingly right on cue. Perry laughed  
“I thought you might be seeing as you missed the free dinner that came with the tour today. Um anyway I’ll meet you tomorrow around 2, if that’s a good time for you?” Perry asked raising an eyebrow.  
“That actually sounds good, and thanks again for the brownies, I really appreciate it” Laura said plastering a fake smile on her face.  
“No problem, see you then Laura!” the ginger replied with a wave as she walked briskly off down the hallway.  
Laura closed the door and pressed her back against it, running a hand through her hair and letting the smile fall from her face.

  
‘Fuck’ she thought. She’s only been here less than a day and she’d already managed to screw up and draw attention to herself, from the floor don no less. She was supposed to be blending in and she’d already missed the damn campus tour.  
She walked over to the desk and sat down, opened her laptop and switched it on. She pulled out a brownie from the bag and took a bite, “Sweet baby Jesus” she moaned with her mouth full, these brownies were really good. She wondered if it would be rude to ask Perry to make her more.  
Probably, she decided.  
   
She opened her email and saw a new one from her dad. She opened it, read it quickly then started to reply. Her dad had been very protective of Laura ever since her mum had died and Laura knew he would get worried if she didn’t reply fairly quickly. She detailed her day as she ate more brownies, (they really were delicious) skipping over the fact she’d missed the tour.  
She didn’t need another lecture from her dad about the importance of blending in. Lecturing was something papa Hollis was quite good at. After she finished and sent off the email she wasted a bit of time browsing Tumblr before she shut her laptop and put it aside, hoping back on her bed.

  
She wondered if she should try and sleep or stay awake and wait for her room-mate to get back, but she didn’t know when or if Betty would be home tonight, and after her nap earlier she wasn’t tired at all anymore. She checked the time again, 8:02pm.  
Laura sat on her bed wide awake and restless for a few minutes before she just decided to get up and explore the campus some more, she got changed out of her dirty clothes and put on a simple black outfit that let her move freely and quietly. She didn’t want anyone seeing her tonight with what she was planning to do. She opened the door a little and glanced around. No one in sight, good, Laura slipped out silently out the door and was gone before it had even closed behind her, swinging shut with a soft click.     


	3. Chapter 3

Laura leapt, hair whipping around her face as she fell gracefully towards the wall. Her fingertips snagged the edge of a windowsill and she grasped it, digging the balls of her feet into the wall to help support her weight. Her arms ached from all the climbing she’d done in the past few hours, but she liked the way they burned. She felt free when she practised Parkour. She balanced precariously on the side of the building already looking for the next place to jump to.

She was several stories up the face of the building, and fast working her way to the ground so she could call it a night. Laura had discovered much to her liking that the buildings at Silas were perfect for practising parkour and she spent longer than she would have training because of it.

She leapt agilely to another window a couple of metres below her, and took a breather. The building she was clinging to was on the edge of campus and full of classrooms so it was bound to be empty this late at night, it was around 1 in the morning and Laura knew she wouldn't get many opportunities to practice her skills while she was enrolled here at Silas, so she made sure to make the most of the cover that darkness provided.  
  
A laugh pierced the silence below her and she glanced down to see a couple, hand in hand and clearly drunk stumbling by. Laura pressed herself more firmly into the wall, blending into the darkness as she waited for them to pass by. But the couple it seemed, had other ideas, they stopped walking and started making out against the wall only a few metres under where Laura was perched, hidden. Great, she sighed internally. She looked up for possible handholds to grab before she began to silently drag herself further up the wall, she moved quickly, her arms and legs were beginning to tire from all the climbing she had done that night and she needed to relax. She made it stealthily around the side of the building and dropped down a level at a time until she was on the ground again out of sight of the couple.   
  
Sticking to the shadows she made her way back to her dorm, one of the houses, the Zeters, Zeta’s? -Laura couldn't quite remember the name of the house- had thrown a party and there were a few people loitering around campus. Like the couple she’d seen earlier. She paid them no mind though as she walked past, thinking of her bed that awaited her when she got back. She made it back to her dorm unseen and Betty still wasn’t back yet, so she changed into her Pjs, brushed her teeth and got into bed, falling asleep instantly.  
\---  
“God you've been sleeping forevvverrrr, wake the hell up”  
Laura opened her eyes sluggishly to find a girl’s face hanging over hers. She had wavy blonde hair and a hot pink t-shirt that had BETTY written on it in shiny sequins. While her eyes adjusted to the sight before her, the girl took a bite out of something she held in her hand and started talking with her mouth partially full “I'm your room-mate, Betty by the way” Betty offered her free hand to shake and Laura took it rubbing sleep out of her eyes with her other hand and yawning, “Laura” in response.   
“Nice to meet you, you sleep like the dead you know that?” Betty said as she stepped away taking another bite of what Laura realised was one of her brownies.   
Laura sat up on the bed pulling the blankets off or her. “Yeah so I've been told’ she said sleepily massaging the back of her neck with her hand, “is that my brownie?” she asked.   
“Yeah, did Perry make these, they’re delicious” Betty babbled on obviously not caring that they were Laura’s and that she hadn't asked if she could eat them.   
This irked Laura a little bit but she brushed it off, the girl would be dead soon anyway, no point getting pissed over petty things.   
“What’s the time” Laura asked, hoping off the bed and making her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth and shower.   
Betty was rummaging through the closet looking for clothes as she called out “Around 10, you've been sleeping for like 20 hours” over her shoulder.   
Cool, Laura thought. That left her enough time to shower and find out a little more about her new room mate before Perry would come by at 2.   
  
“Yeah I was pretty jet lagged” Laura replied, not mentioning where she’d actually been last night.   
“I'm just gonna take a shower”, she continued, “but after did you want to go out for coffee, maybe get to know each other a bit better since we’ll be roomies?”   
“Yeah alright that sounds good, I know a good cafe on campus” Betty turned around to beam a smile at Laura which Laura returned automatically before the blonde shifted back around to continue looking through her clothes.  
Laura yawned again as she shut the bathroom door. She needed to know as much as possible about Betty, and on first impression, the girl hadn't been what she expected.   
Her file had said she was an introverted kind of person, with a high IQ, who generally showed disdain to other people. Yet Laura hadn't seen that at all. Betty was quite bubbly, extroverted and well, a tad annoying actually. ‘I mean who the hell wakes up at 10 after being out most/if not all of the night?’ She thought to herself as she turned the shower on and stripped. She stepped under the hot stream of water, letting it soothe and relax her muscles as she began wondering what else the files on Betty had gotten wrong.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos helps my self esteem <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to write longer chapters from now on, and update every few days.

The tour had been about exciting as Laura had though it would be, which was to say, not at all. With Perry constantly spitting out facts about Silas like she was some kind of walking encyclopaedia, it had been tedious to say the least. A few good things had come from it though; Perry had taken Laura to the lake. And under the pretence of exploring, Laura had been able to sus out a clearing nearby that she’d only seen on maps previously. It was hidden from sight of the campus and surrounded by dense forest. This was where she was planning on ‘taking out’ Betty the coming weekend. It was perfect and she’d been able to hide the tiny homing device she’d brought with her in a nearby tree. She activated it before walking back to Perry, bubbling on about how pretty the campus was and how much she was looking forward to studying here. Perry was none the wiser and just launched into an extensive lecture about the lakes very dull history.   
Perry had also held true to her word and introduced her to two of her ‘cool friends’.   
LaFontaine, who was a Biology major and who was Perry’s best friend. Laura got on with them surprisingly well. Spending quite some time debating the structure differences in RNA and DNA, from human to human with them. Lafontaine was really smart and by the end of the conversation, Laura had a pretty good idea that they knew more than they should about human sub species.   
She was also introduced to Danny, a tall red head who Laura thought was actually quite cute, and as it turned out, was also Laura’s Lit TA. Laura wasn’t sure if she’d just imagined the way Danny’s eyes seemed to undress her a little when she thought she wasn’t looking, but she hoped she hadn’t. It was almost… Predatory in a way, and if Laura was being honest, it was hot. Danny and LaFontaine had both invited her to the Pizza party (Laura still couldn’t believe how stupid the idea of a pizza party was) on Friday night so Laura figured she would just have to wait until then to try and chat Danny up.   
If she had any spare time that was what with Betty and all, she thought humorously. She made sure to grab Lafontaine’s number before she left with Perry though, she might be able to enlist their help if LaF knew more about supernatural beings then she was letting on.   
  
After the tour had finished and Perry had left, Laura finally let the fake smile she’d been wearing all day slip from her face, it was hard work acting so dorky and innocent for so long but she knew it was absolutely necessary. She returned to her dorm to find Betty had gone out somewhere again so she took the opportunity to call J.P, an old friend of hers from the academy who was always happy to help Laura out with some of her contracts no matter where in the world she might be.   
“Hey Jeep, need a favour, you down?”   
“Always” he replied in his quiet eloquent voice.  
Laura smiled into her phone. J.P had been one of her closest friends at Elderberry and was one of the smartest people she knew. He always had a solution to whatever problem Laura might have gotten herself into, often pointing out potential mistakes in her plan before she had a chance to make them. He was like a brother to her. A silent, deadly, murderous brother, and Laura loved him for it.   
“Great, I need a body disposal Saturday night, sometime between 11 and 1”  
“can do. Location?” He asked her.  
“Austria, I’ve set up a homing beacon at the site, I’ll text you the code for it after I hang up”.  
“Perfect” He replied. And Laura could practically hear him grinning on the other end of the line. He enjoyed his job just as much as she did.   
‘It’ll be good to see you, L Bear. Even if only briefly, it’s been a while now hasn’t it? How’s the latest job been going?”  
They spoke for ages, Laura filling him in on everything that had happened so far, and he laughed when she told him she’d fucked up day one, “L Bear you have be better than that, you’re one of the best, you need to uphold your reputation”.   
“Yeah yeah I know I know” Laura muttered irritably into the phone, which only made J.P laugh harder.  
They bantered back and forth a while, just enjoying speaking to each other. J.P updated her on the happenings in his life and told her about some awkward antics from one of his latest contracts. Which had Laura practically crying from laughter.  
“Well how was I supposed to know that she was a succubus? I mean no one put it in her file, you’d think they would have mentioned that right? I nearly died! I’m quite lucky she had kinks that turned me off so much I snapped out of it and realised what she was doing. I mean who the golly wants to have sexual intercourse wearing dippers, how is that even possible!” J.P cried exasperatedly.  
“Now now Jeep… Don’t judge… Everyone has… Their fetishes!” Laura stuttered out, laughing too hard to talk properly. J.P was the only person she knew under 60 who said ‘golly’, and this situation was hilarious.  
“Yes well, hush it L Bear or I might change my mind about helping you out this weekend”  
Laura knew he was kidding, but got her laughter under control anyway.  
“Righto Jeep, well I’d better head off anyway, gotta do some training soon” Laura said as she checked the time 9pm, wow the day had gone fast, she’d been on the phone for nearly two hours.   
“Allright L Bear, well I’ll see you Saturday then. Try to stay out of trouble until then, okay?”  
“No promises” She replied with a grin, before hanging up the phone. She sent off a text to J.P with the homing beacon details then got dressed in her usual black outfit and put her hair up. She did some stretches before she headed out the door with J.P’s little ‘incident’ on her mind and a grin on her face.  
\---

As she climbed stealthily up the side of the library later that night, Laura found her mind wandering from thoughts of training. She started thinking about the vampire she’d gotten the Austrian lead from which had brought her to Silas in the first place. He had been a young looking vampire, frozen permanently in his mid twenties, but of course his appearance could never reflect his real age. His name was so pretentious; Jullias Von Vordenburg and he seemed to hold a real grudge against the vampires he claimed were running the rituals. Laura had that in common with him she supposed.  
Laura managed to reach the top of the wall and she climbed up onto the roof of the library and sat down, legs dangling over the side.   
She thought of Jullias as she kicked her legs against the wall and scanned the campus grounds subconsciously for any threats out of habit.

He’d sought Laura out on his own accord while she was camping in some Canadian forest. He’d heard she was looking for leads and came to trade information. Fool she thought. Vampires never crossed paths with the Elder circle of assassins if they could help it. He confessed to helping a clan leader, Morgan, with a ritual a few decades ago. He said her name with such spite Laura wondered what the woman had done to him to cause him to risk his life just to expose her ritual. Unfortunately Jullias was only a minor player in the scheme, and he had severely underestimated her hatred for those responsible for her mothers death. So once Laura had finished getting the information she needed from him, she’d repaid the favour not with information like promised. But by sliding her favourite dagger into the back of his neck, severing his spinal cord and paralysing him before disassembling him limb by limb. He may not have directly been responsible for killing her mother, but he’s helped steer others towards the same fate. In Laura’s mind, he deserved the painful death he got.   
  
Laura felt the library building rumble slightly beneath her. She was probably going to have to investigate why this particular building always seemed to do that after dark. But not right now. She was enjoying the breeze on her face and the freedom that came with being so high up. But she also found herself in a strange mood. she tried to avoid these moods when they came by. She tried to avoid thinking about why she was the way she was. But she couldn’t stop herself thinking about it now for some reason.  
Laura loved her job. She really did.  
After her mother died, she felt like her whole world had come apart. She was only nine when she’d seen her mum stolen from her before her and her father’s eyes, and her father had left her.   
Not physically, but mentally.   
He had retreated so deep into his mind. Drowning in his grief and she’d been all alone for months until her dad snapped out of it and enrolled her at Elderberry academy. It was there where she learned about the family trade and thrived. Laura couldn’t bear to think about that night, couldn’t survive it night after night in her dreams, so she threw herself into her training using her grief as fuel to push herself just a little bit harder, a little bit further. She excelled at all of her subjects and was top of her class every single year.

Laura loved it all, the training, the hunt, the power, the control she had over her victims. All of it  
and she knew that made her a terrible person, a horrible human being. But you don’t get to be the best in her profession without losing your humanity somewhere along the line. She knew she wasn’t a sociopath, she felt emotions, she felt love, she felt empathy. She just chose not to most of the time. She usually numbed herself, switched herself off from the pain of feeling anything, because she knew that pain was generally all she could feel. But here, on this roof, she let it wash over her. Just this once she let herself feel the pain.  
The closest she ever felt to life, was when she was taking it from someone else. The moment the life left someone’s eyes was the only reminder she had of what it felt like to actually be living.  
She’d done so many horrible things to people, and she had never cared, never let herself felt guilty or remorseful for any of them.  
She really was a monster.  
Laura sat on the roof of the library for hours, wanting to cry but her eyes remained dry, the tears wouldn’t come out. She couldn’t even find it in herself to shed a tear for those she’d killed. Only haggard breaths and a twisting feeling in her chest and she began to choke on her own silence.   
She bore a hell within her which nothing could extinguish.   
She didn’t move from where she sat until the first of dawns rays hit her face. Her body frozen cold, her heart heavy, and her mind blank.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some graphic violence in this chapter, heads up.

Laura looked herself up and down in the bathroom mirror. It was 9pm Friday and she was wearing a low cut, short black dress that reached just past her thighs, it rested just perfectly so that the knife she had strapped to the outside of her leg was hidden from sight. She wanted to look both innocent and sexy but she also needed the outfit to be practical. So she matched the dress with light mascara, blush, a thin black handbag and a pair of low heeled black boots.  
Betty walked through the open bathroom door checking her make up in the mirror one last time before she turned to Laura.   
“Ready?” She asked.  
 Betty wore a dark blue dress that hugged her figure closely, and she wore it well Laura thought.  
Definitely not a bad outfit to die in.  
“Yup, yourself?”  
“Yeah lets go L.”  
They left the bathroom and walked out of their dorm, Betty paused to swipe a flask of something of her bed, taking a swig before chucking it in her handbag.  
“What’s in that”? Laura asked?  
“Tequila, want some?” Betty took another swig before she passed it over to Laura.  
“Why not”? Laura shrugged. Taking a long draw from the flask and feeling the liquor burn on its way down her throat, warming her from inside.  
  
They headed over to the party making small talk on the way. It was such a nice night out tonight. The moonlight from the full moon threw a pale white glow over everything. Making it easier to see, and making everything look almost peaceful.   
Laura loved the night time, the darkness, the stars. It all made her feel so calm. Like anything could happen and none of it would matter. Good or bad.   
The peacefulness was interrupted though as they drew closer to the Zeta Omega house. They could hear music playing loudly, bass rumbling through the surrounding grounds, and there were people everywhere, most carrying, or covered in, pizza.  
Betty grabbed Laura’s hand as they wove through the dense crowd, both moving in time to the music as they looked for people they knew. Laura scanned the crowd a few times, letting Betty pull her along towards the drinks table, when suddenly Danny appeared by her side.  
“Hey Laura, so glad you could make it!” She yelled over the music grinning with her teeth.  
“Hey yourself” Laura yelled back, letting go of Betty’s hand to reach up and hug Danny, instantly losing Betty in the crowd.  
She pulled back and looked up at Danny, who was wearing shorts and a tightly fitting t shirt, she was dressed comfortably but still managed to look good.  
“Can I get you a drink?” Danny asked, looking at Laura kinda intensely as she pulled them away from the heart of the crowd towards a less cluttered area.    
“Uh yeah sure, whatever you’re having, thanks” Laura said, flashing a flirtatious look and a grin at the redhead.   
Danny blushed and flashed another toothy grin at Laura before turning around and quickly disappearing into the crowd to get the drinks.  
  
Something seemed different about Danny tonight, Laura couldn’t quite think of what it was. They’d only seen each other for 2 minutes and already Laura had noticed that the other girl seemed more… Alert and on edge tonight than she had been the other day when they’d met. Laura gazed up at the sky and the stars while she thought it over. There’s been a look in Danny’s eyes too, the same predatory look she’d given her the first time they met, and maybe Laura was just imagining things, but she’d… Smelt different too. A husky sent had clung to Laura after her and Danny hugged.  
Laura was pretty intuitive to other people. Especially people she was interested in but maybe she was just over analysing this.  
   
It was then that Danny came back over, carrying two beers and handing one over to Laura.  
“Thanks” Laura said taking a sip and trying not to pull a face. She didn’t like beer but she wasn’t about to say that to Danny.  
They spent a while chatting and vaguely flirting with each other, all the while Danny kept looking at her with those intense piercing eyes. Laura was sure if she was any other girl Danny might make her feel intimidated, but Laura wasn’t just any girl. After a little while, Laura grabbed Danny’s hand and pulled her onto the makeshift dance floor/grass. Pulling her close, she danced with the taller girl. Grabbing her and pushing up against her in places just right enough to tease her.   
  
Laura could see that Danny was visibly getting worked up by her actions, but apparently, so could someone else. LaF chose that moment to come over and say hi to Laura, completely interrupting them, Laura was a little pissed, but then she saw LaF discreetly hand something to Danny, before they turned to give Laura a hug.  
“Hey Laura, Awesome you came, Perry’s over there, handing out free brownies, did you want to come say hi and distract her for me while I grab a whole tray?” LaF laughed awkwardly. She really wasn’t good at cover up’s thought Laura. But she played dumb and went along with it.   
“Yeah sure that’d be great she called out over the music. I’ll see you later Danny?”  
“I’ll find you later on, yeah” Danny called out. Still visibly on edge, Laura saw her raise a tiny familiar looking plant to her mouth and swallow it. And as her and LaF turned away, Danny flashed her another all too toothy grin. Danny disappeared into the crowd again and Laura ad LaF started to walk away.  
It was then that it hit Laura. Danny’s grin was really toothy. Too toothy. As in her canines were much larger than they should be, much larger than a humans should be. And the plant she had eaten, Laura remembered it as wolfs bane, a plant that stopped werewolves from transforming at full moons. Laura looked up at the huge full moon above her.  
Holy shit – she thought. It all made sense, the predatory stare, the husky sent, the fact Danny seemed so tense tonight.  
Danny was a werewolf. And LaF knew about it.  
Well shit, no wonder LaF had interrupted them dancing, she thought amused.  
  
“Hey, sorry LaF I have to go to the bathroom, can I meet up with you in a bit?” Laura asked, tugging on their arm to get their attention.  
“Oh, ok yeah, come find Per and I in a bit if you want” LaF said as Laura nodded and walked away in another direction.  
She didn’t actually need to use the bathroom but she needed to think about LaF and Danny without LaF suspecting anything was up. Laura searched through the crowd for Betty while she mused the recent turn of events over in her head.  
  
It wasn’t like she had an issue with Danny being a werewolf, she didn’t have any bias towards one species over the other, despite most of her contract hits being supernatural creatures. Laura didn’t choose supernatural contracts over human contracts, they were usually just handed to her because she was one of the few Elder Assassins actually strong and smart enough to be able to complete the harder contracts. And it wasn’t like Danny was one of her contracts so Laura didn’t really see a reason to tell anyone or make a deal out of it. Although she really needed to talk LaF about Silas she thought. She really needed to know what they knew about the supernatural going on’s here.

Laura finally spotted Betty standing over by the drinks table, talking to two dark haired guys Laura didn’t recognise. She approached them and Betty squealed drunkenly when she saw her, “Laura! There you are! I saw you dancing with Danny before, damn girl!” Betty wiggled her eyebrows at laura and stumbled into her a little. “Anyway”, she continued. “This is Kirsch and Will. Will, Kirsch, this is Laura my new room-mate” Betty pointed to the guys she was with before taking a long draw from the now probably nearly empty flask in her hand. “Hey Little hottie, nice to meet you” The taller one, Kirsch said as he suddenly grabbed Laura in a bear hug, “Oof, hi, nice to meet you both” It took all of Laura’s self restraint to play sweet and innocent and not throw Kirsch off of her in a manner that he would find very painful. Finally he let go and thankfully Will didn’t try to hug her, he simply nodded before Betty pulled his attention away.  
“Willllll, Willy boy, I’m hungry, would you go and grab me some pizza pleaseeeee” she pouted at him and Laura could practically see his eyes rolling but he grabbed Kirsch and they both walked obediently off to find pizza.

Betty was so drunk she practically had to lean on Laura just to stay upright, Laura checked the time on her phone while Betty rambled on about how cute Will was. 11:58. Shit, Laura needed to get a move on, or J.P would be left waiting.  
“Are you and Will dating or something”? Laura asked   
“Nooooooo, but I’d like to be, he’s so dreamy and handsome and gloomy and muscly-”  
“How about we go find him then?” Laura asked, cutting Betty off mid-sentence.  
“Yessss okay” Suddenly there was a huge bang and there was a thick fog covering everything making it impossible to see a few feet in any direction. Someone yelled “PIZZA OR DEATH” and suddenly there was an all out food fight, pizza flying everywhere.  
  
“What the fuck!” Laura yelled as she grabbed Betty and used her as cover.  
“Oh it must be midnight, the alchemy club rigged this all up to go off at midnight” Betty said drunkenly not even trying to dodge the pizza been thrown in all directions.  
“Right well lets go and find Will for protection then” Laura said as she steered Betty away from the party.      
“Mmmk” she replied, letting Laura guild her.  
“As annoying as it was having to dodge flying pizza and the people who were throwing it, Laura couldn’t help but think this man made fog was perfect for letting them slip away unseen. She used it to her full advantage, managing to get them into the woods unseen.  
“Where’s Will?” Betty asked slurring her words.  
He said he’s going to meet us just up ahead, not much further.  
Laura semi guided, semi pushed Betty forward until they reached the clearing.  
  
“Okay here we are” Laura said, dropping her sweet little innocent act and staring at Betty menacingly.  
“Um Laura. What’s going on?” Betty asked a little nervously, clearly worried at Laura’s sudden change of behaviour. “I can’t see will anywhere and-“ “Hey can I have some more tequila?” Laura asked, completely cutting Betty off.  
“Uh yeah sure, here” she said handing Laura the flask. Laura raised it to her mouth and finished the rest off as Betty asked “When’s Will getting here?”  
“Oh he’s not” Laura said with a dark grin as he dropped the empty flask to the ground and put her had against her own thigh, feeling the cool knife strapped there.

  
“Um, I don’t understand” Betty said scared, taking a step back away from Laura.  But Laura just took a larger step towards Betty until they were only inches apart.  
“Oh I know you don’t honey, but I’ll make you understand don’t worry.”  
“What do you mean by that” Betty whispered, staring into Laura’s suddenly cold eyes.  
Laura looked at Betty enjoying the fear in Betty’s eyes just a moment longer before she replied.  
“The Elder Circle sends their regards” Flashing a deadly grin.  
Betty’s eyes opened wide with surprise and fear. And she began to open her mouth to scream or shout or to do god knows what. But Laura never gave her the chance.   
Laura whipped her hand up from her thigh, knife in hand and plunged it hilt deep into the bottom of Betty’s chin, driving it through her skull.

  
Betty suddenly fell limp, muscles twitching, and Laura caught her. Gently lowering her to the ground, as blood gurgled down the girls chin and out her mouth.  
Betty's fingers sparked with some kind of blue magical energy for a second, and her eyes, looked up, unfocused and unseeing. Laura placed her head gently on the ground and watched as the twitches and magic sparks became fewer, and fewer until they stopped completely. Laura knew the exact moment when Betty’s heart stopped, she felt it still under her hand. And she paused to watch the light fade from Betty’s eyes, her pupils dilating fully in death. That was always her favourite part.  
Laura sighed contently and swiftly pulled the knife out, wiping it clean on Betty’s nice blue dress before going to sheathe it.

  
A low impressed whistle from behind Laura interrupted her thoughts and she jumped up fast wielding the knife and spinning around to face the direction where she herd the noise.  
J.P dropped down out of a nearby tree and walked over to Betty’s body.  
“Oh it’s just you” Laura said relieved, re sheathing her knife.  
“Just me”, he agreed,” and might I say that was mighty cold of you Laura, and rather impressive as well. I mean look at you!” he said, gesturing to what she was wearing. “Not a drop of blood on you L bear! Rather well done.”  
“Thanks, Jeep”. Laura said as she walked up to J.P and hugged him. “And thanks for doing this, I’m sorry I can’t stay and help but I have to get back before someone notices me and the wicked witch here are missing”.  
“Oh completely understandable, L bear, although I am planning on sticking around in Austria for a bit, so shall we catch up at some stage?”  
“Definitely Jeep, but I really have to go” she said as she hugged him again.  
“Yes, goodbye Laura, I also have work to do” he said with a wink before Laura turned around and walked away from the clearing.  


She turned back to look once when she reached the tree line a few metres away.  
But J.P and Betty’s body were already gone.

\----

Laura made it back to the party just before 1am. The fog had mostly cleared by then and the whole place was trashed with pizza, it seemed like she was the only one who hadn’t been hit by a slice. She walked around happily, drunk on the high a recent kill gave her. After a few minutes she spotted Perry and made small chit chat, not really caring about what the girl had to say, just making sure she had an alibi. She hadn’t seen Danny at all since earlier and she set off to find her when she was suddenly stopped by a cold hand grabbing her arm mid step. It was Will, “Hey where’s Betty, is she with you?”   
“What, no she’s not, I thought she was with you?” Laura said innocently. “I lost her when the fog started, she walked off and said she was going to find you”  
“I can’t find her” he replied.  
“Oh, well she was pretty wasted, she might have gone back to the dorm, I’m leaving soon so I’ll check.”  
“Oh, thanks then”. Will walked off without another word.  


Hmm Will was kinda intense, Laura thought, and man his grip was strong. Laura wondered if she’d have bruises where he’d grabbed her arm come morning.  
Unable to spot Danny, Laura hung around for a few minutes more before deciding to leave the party and heading back to her dorm.            
She stripped off her shoes and dress, wiped off her makeup, and brushed her teeth before she got into bed.  
She closed her eyes and replayed Betty’s death in her mind over and over, committing it to memory as she did with all of her kills.   
  
She thought of the sound the knife had made sliding into her flesh, and the weak blue sparks that had danced across the witch’s fingertips, too pitiful and too late to do any real damage.  
She thought of the way Betty’s eyes had widened and lit up in surprise a second before they had stopped lighting up at all, and how the blood pooled in the dip between her collarbones. Her heart feebly trying to keep pumping, all in vain.  
Laura played the images over and over, until they eventually began to lull her to sleep, the adrenaline of the night finally wearing off. She felt like she could sleep like the dead.  
She supposed Betty could too.                                                                                                     


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> POV switches here.  
> Change from third person writing to first person.  
> Carmilla finally makes an appearance.

I heard the loud smack and dull thud of Maman hitting Will to the ground through the thick wooden doors before I pushed them open.  
Will was on the ground. His dislocated jaw was hanging at a grotesque angle and a fresh spray of blood coated the side of his face from the impact. Maman towered above him. Looking at him venomously.  
“You know how important she is and you just _lost_ her?” She hissed at him, raising her hand to strike him again. You _know_ how difficult she was to get, how could you let this happen?”   
“I’m sorry Mother, I don’t know”. Will replied painfully. His was speech slurring and distorting from his displaced jaw. “One minute she was there then the fog appeared then she was just gone”. A small amount of blood dribbled down from his split lips as he spoke.  
Mother stared at him furiously for a moment then she sighed and returned her hand to her side as she turned to face me suddenly calm.  
  
“Get up Will.” she said, not looking at him.  
He stood up by Maman's side and quickly snapped his dislocated jaw back into place.  
“Hey Kitty” he said. He always called me that and I hated it.  
“Hey Willy boy” I retorted.

“Shut up both of you. Carmilla, you’re late.” Maman said as she strode over to the minibar she had in the corner of her office. She grabbed a towel off the bar and threw it over to Will, who started to wipe the blood off his face with it.  
“I was busy.” I said in a bored tone.  
  
Mother shifted irritably, clearly annoyed with my tone and started to pour herself a drink.   
“I know you’ve already filled your quota this year, but since your idiotic brother has gone and _lost_ Betty. I need you to go find her and bring her back.”  
“What! I said pissed. “Will got himself into this, why do I have to clean up his mess?” I asked annoyed.   
Maman walked back over to us carrying her drink, and gripped Wills face with her free hand checking each side of his face for blood and making sure he looked presentable.  
“Because I told you to, and because he’s too stupid to do it himself”  
Will opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, changing his mind.  
“Fine, I’ll find the girl.”   
I said as I was turning to leave. Her presence was suffocating.   
“Wait Carmilla” she said.  
I turned back around, not wanting to know what she had to say.  
“Leave us Will”

  
He quickly walked past me out the door, throwing the now bloodied towel into the trash can on his way out. His expression was neutral, and his split lip had already healed. Being Mothers favourite had its perks, a smack and a few name calls was barely a punishment. It was definitely nowhere near Maman’s finest, and he knew he’d gotten off easy.  
No she usually saved her finest for me.

  
As soon as the door closed behind Will, Mothers hand was around my throat and she slammed me against the door. The back of my head cracked against it loudly and left a dent in the polished wood.  
She took a sip of her drink and swallowed, the bitch hadn’t even spilt a drop of the damn thing. “You will not speak to me in such rude fashion again. Understood?” She stated, rather than asked. Her dark cold eyes were boring into my wide fearful ones and she was so close, I could smell the alcohol on her breath. I hated how weak I was around her, I hated the power she held over me, she fear she made me feel.  
I tried to say yes but her hand had caved my throat in rendering me unable to speak, so I just nodded.  
“Good, I find your attitude irksome.’ She replied. “Now go, and don’t mess this up Carmilla, we can’t afford to lose that girl. _You_ can’t afford to lose that girl. She said in a threatening tone as she released my crushed throat and walked away, her high heels clicking against the ground as she stalked back over to her mini bar. Leaving me to fall to the ground and scamper out the door.  
  
Will was waiting for me outside, and he wordlessly handed me his scarf to cover up my mangled neck with.  
Or course he had heard everything. He grabbed my elbow and helped me walk away from Mothers office.   
“I’m sorry” he said.  
He walked us outside and over to a bench where we sat and waited for my throat to rekindle and heal itself. It was quite uncomfortable not being able to breathe, not that I needed to but still.  
I loved Will, he was my brother, but right now I was pretty pissed at him.

  
Since I was unable to talk, will continued to speak. He told me how he’d been at that stupid pizza frat party when the Alchemy club had set the fog off and he’d lost Betty. The thick fog had covered her sent and he’d thought that Betty was with her new room-mate, that Laura chick. But when he found her later on, the girl hadn’t seen Betty either.   
“Why did you leave her side in the first place? You were supposed to take her that night”   
I whispered hoarsely, throat slowly starting to function again.

  
“Look I know I fucked up all right. But that’s not the worst of it. I found her sent trail in the forest early next morning. It was faded but it led to a clearing by the lake that had the smell of blood reeking all over it, but no actual blood. It was kinda a weird scent, and that’s where the trail stopped. I found her flask too.” He said, pulling it out his jacket pocket and handing it to me. ”I think something happened to her, there were scents of at least one other person there as well, maybe even two.”  
  
“Well shit” I said. “Mother doesn’t know about this does she?” I asked.  
“Hell no I didn’t tell her. Do you think she’d have let me off so easily just then if I had?”  
“I think she would have staked you, or did to you what she did to me and thrown you in a coffin to rot away”   
“I think you’re probably right Kitty. Which is why I need your help, Mother wasn’t wrong when she said I’m too stupid to do this on my own.”  
I sighed, “Well it’s not like I have any choice do I? You’re a shit brother by the way.”  
“Love you Kitty” he said, a huge grin spreading across his face.  
“Shut up before I re-break your jaw. Go and dig for information from your little frat pals, find out what people saw all right.”  
I got up and started to walk away. Tearing off his scarf and throwing it back to him as I left, my throat pretty much having fully healed itself.

As I walked I wondered why Will had even been trusted with something this important. As far as these things went, Will was a fairly young vampire, having only been turned by Mother about 70 years ago. And he was only created to fill the position I’d had after Maman had had me buried for all those decades. He didn’t have the senses or the abilities that an older vampire possessed and as a tracker, Will was mediocre at best. So I headed to the forests around the lake and started to hunt for Betty’s trail myself. 

It took a few minutes for me to find it once I’d reached the forest, and immediately I knew something was off. I could smell Will’s trail perfectly, but Betty’s was nowhere near as strong, even though they’d both been set merely hours apart. It had to be covered, masked by something. The only reason I could recognise it as Betty’s trail at all was because I was already attuned to the girls sent. A growing pit of unease settled in my stomach. Something wasn’t right here.  
  
I continued following the trails until I reached the clearing Will had mentioned. And my suspicions were confirmed. He had been right, there was the scent of two people there, and a distinct smell clung to one part of the clearing. But Will had mistaken that smell for blood. It wasn’t blood, it was close. But it wasn’t blood. It was death. A person’s blood was their life force so they were pretty much the same thing, Will had nearly been right. But death has a slightly different smell and unique imprint. I could feel it clinging to the trees nearby and seeping into the ground where –Presumably Beth, had died.   
Shit, I groaned internally. This was really not good.

  
I walked over to where a very, very faint smell of blood lingered and found a single drop of the coppery stuff dried up on a leaf. I licked it, Defiantly Beth’s blood.   
Fuck. We were in a whole world of trouble now.  
I started pacing across the clearing, back and forth as I thought it over. I wanted to ignore what my brain was telling me but I couldn’t. Not this time.  
  
Whoever had killed Betty had been a professional. They’d done it in the middle of the night, when half the campus was awake partying. Barely making a mess or a sound and had somehow disposed of her body without leaving a trail. Not only that but they’d used something to cover up the pre-existing sent trails, making them practically un-trackable.  
We didn’t know anything about who they were, and what they wanted, if they were finished now that they had Betty, or if they were just getting started at Silas.  
This was a huge threat to the ritual and Mother did not tolerate threats to the ritual.  
I sat down and put my head in my hands.  
“Shit!” I yelled. Scaring a few birds and making them fly off out the trees.  
This is not, how I had planned to spend my weekend.

 

\---

 

I got dressed in my black gear and headed out for the night a little later than usual, putting my long hair into a ponytail as I went to leave the room. I shut the door behind me and walked down the hall with a smile on my face. These past few days had been bliss for me. I had been able to train at night at any hour, without having to worry about coming back and having someone notice I’d gone. I had the whole room to myself now that Betty was gone.   
And since I never was good at sharing, the new living arrangements suited me perfectly. Of course I had to act shocked and upset in front of everyone at the news of her disappearance but that had been easy to do. People were scared; apparently Betty was the third girl to go missing in the past month. My previous research on Silas hadn’t uncovered that at all.   
It seemed that _apparently_ there was a huge block on technology here on campus and the only way information was spread on Silas these days was by word of mouth.   
  
It was bad news for the missing girls, but it was a good sign for me, this meant that not only was I almost certainly on the right track uncovering my mother’s fate. But it also meant Betty’s death was being attributed to the same person or persons who had taken the other girls. All the suspicion was directed to them and not to me. This couldn’t have worked out any better I thought, grinning.

I walked around campus for a while, sticking to the shadows just enjoying the night. I felt closer to my mother now, here on Silas, than I had in years and I enjoyed the feeling of closeness because I was sure it wouldn’t last long. Peace never did, for me.   
There was no one out tonight, it was around 3:30am, and the only thing stirring this late at night was the library building. Which just rumbled threateningly every so often, as if warning people to stay away from it.   
I hadn’t been planning on training tonight but I hadn’t been able to sleep. So I started a show jog around the back of the dorm buildings. The moon was thin tonight and that made the night dark, I didn’t have to worry about being seen. I didn’t bother doing parkour, just did some sets, and short distance sprints until I felt I was tired enough to go back to the dorm. My sleeping patterns always seemed to get a little messed up after a contract I’d noticed. Something to do with the afterglow of a night out with a playmate I assumed. I sighed internally, things would hopefully settle down in a while. Danny was supposed to be coming over tomorrow morning. One of the girls who lived with her in the Summer Society had also gone missing. Danny wanted to start investigating it, and I agreed to help. I wanted to start digging about the missing girls. I just hoped I wouldn’t be too tired.    
  
I fell asleep at 5am and woke up at 7:30am bleary eyed to find Danny already sitting at my desk, papers sprawled across it scribbling furiously at something.  
“Good morning” she said when she heard me stir. She spun around in her chair and handed me a warm mug of coco, “I hope you didn’t mind me letting myself in, I did knock but you didn’t answer and you just looked so tired I thought I’d let you sleep cause… Ya know… I know you’ve been having a rough time these past few days, you deserve sleep. And I was early anyway”. She said sheepishly and gave me a small smile.  
God she was cute -I thought taking a sip of the coco-, and incredibly naïve but still cute.   
“It’s fine Danny, and… Thank you”.  
“No problem.” Our eyes lingered on each-others a little longer than was strictly necessary.  
She broke the contact first, looking down to her papers saying,  
“So I’ve already gotten started but did you want me to fill you in?”  
“Sure let me just take a shower first then we can start”.

\---

 

Carmilla it’s been a week, why haven’t you found the missing girl, Betty yet?   
Maman asked me again, knowing full well I couldn’t reply with the gag stuffed in my mouth.  
I didn’t reply and she whipped the back of my legs with her thin leather belt, causing my knees to buckle and making me sag against the restraints that held me up.  
She’d been punishing me for the past hour and a half asking me questions I wasn’t able to answer, and then hitting me when I didn’t.  
After I had initially refused to tell her why I couldn’t find Betty, she’d tied my hands in chains and attached them to the ceiling of her office using a special metal loop she’d had installed in the ceiling especially for this purpose.  
She hit me again with the belt, this time across my face and god it stung. I couldn’t help the moan that escaped me making it past the gag. Maman smiled at that as she hit me again, back this time, causing more blood to spray. I healed too quickly for any marks Mother had inflicted to last long, but my whole body was crisscrossed with blood splatter from her lashes, and my clothes were in tatters, hanging off me limply.   
  
“I’m very disappointed in you Carmilla. I never expected much from Will but you should know better than to disobey me.” She raised her arm and put more force into her next swing, it caught me on the other side of my face ripping open my cheek and I couldn’t help but scream it hurt that much.  
“Not only have you failed to locate the girl, but her roommate, Laura I think, has been asking questions. Will says she’s not only interested in finding out what happened to Betty but she’s also digging into the other girls, wanting to know what happened to them too.”  
She walked up close to me, grabbing my face and digging her fingernails into the fresh of my newly torn cheek, dragging another low moan from me.  
“I need you to put a stop to her. Understand?” she said quietly.  
I nodded.  
“Good. Do not. Disappoint me again Carmilla.”  
\----

I walked down the hall in a foul mood. I’d cleaned myself up after my little ‘chat’ with Mother as she called it. But my body still ached, and the marks on my wrists where I’d rubbed against my restraints hadn’t healed. I’d had to cover them up with a couple of black bracelets and they rubbed against my wounds irritably. I carried my sack full of belongings with me and lugged it over my shoulder when   
I reached the right door. I didn’t knock, just shoved my way in chucking my bag on the ground as I sussed the room I was in, Laura, I assumed, was sitting at her desk on her computer typing something, she had long light brown hair and was wearing a grey tank top and shorts. She hurriedly closed her laptop and spun around in her chair. Hmm, she was kinda cute, I thought as I started playing music through her dock, and helping myself to grape soda that was in the fridge, deliberately trying to annoy the tiny human.  
“Um, who the hell are you?” She asked surprised and annoyed.  
I looked at her and grinned.  
“Carmilla. I’m your new room-mate sweetheart”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback comments are greatly appreciated. Good or bad.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spot the Elder Scrolls game references. ;)

“Carmilla. I’m your new room mate sweetheart”.  
Carmilla’s dark brown eyes connected with mine and I instantly froze in my chair. My breath and my heart hitched in my throat as I stared at the girl, a sudden wave of fear washing over me. I couldn’t move.  
Her eyes.  
There was something about her eyes that terrified me. A glassy stare I knew I had never seen before yet somehow felt so familiar to me.  
I felt trapped by Carmilla’s gaze.  
No one had ever made me feel like that before. I tried to regain control of my emotions.  
I fixed my gaze on a point on the wall over her shoulder as I tried to keep my breathing normal. I knew that it had probably been only a couple of seconds since she’d caught my eyes but it had felt like an eternity.  
“I already have a room mate.” I said trying to keep my voice steady and get myself back to normal.  
“Well don’t you catch on fast” She smirked as she took a sip of _my_ grape soda and made her way over to Betty’s bed.  
“No I.. I mean I have a pre existing room mate, a prior room mate… Her name is Betty.”  
Shit, now I was stuttering, what the hell?  
“Oh yeah, so where is this Betty?” Carmilla said with her back turned to me while she rummaged through the huge pile of clothes on the bed and stole money from Betty’s bag.  
“She’s… missing… Hey what are you doing, that stuff isn’t yours!”  
  
I stood up finally having regained control of my emotions and yanked one of Betty's tops from her hands. She spun around angrily.  
“Look cupcake, I have a letter from the Dean of Students that says I live here now okay? So until you can produce this Betty chick, I’m here to stay _. And_ , I’ll take what I want. She yanked the shirt out of my grasp and spun back around, clearly finished with the conversation.  
“Fine!” I turned furiously back to the desk and grabbed my laptop. “I will find Betty, and when I do you’ll be out of here so fast you’ll have scorch marks on those leather pants of yours”. I stormed out of the dorm room, grabbing the can of grape soda she’d stolen from me on the way out and slamming the door behind me.  
  
\---

What the fuck was that Hollis? I thought angrily to myself as I walked down the hallway. What. The. Fuck? I shook my head.  
You, a fucking highly trained killer, a top of your class assassin. Was reduced to a stuttering mess just now, by looking at some snarky, leather clad girl.  
What the fuck Hollis…  
Not to mention the fact that that girl had made you storm out of _your own_ dorm room in less than a minute after meeting her and the only thing you’d done about it was make idle threats about finding Betty which you knew full well you wouldn’t be able to do.  
What the fuck was wrong with me?  
I left the dorm building and tried to find somewhere quiet to finish checking my emails, ending up behind the library. I sat slumped down against the wall, putting the grape soda next to me and firing up my laptop. It was actually a really nice day outside, sunny clear skies, and that usually worked to cheer me up. But not today, I was still in a foul mood. It was like a mix between pissed off and anxious, but I think I was just mostly confused by everything, by her, Carmilla. God why did she have to be so infuriating and gorgeous at the same time?  
I sighed and went back to finishing the email I had been writing to Dad before Carmilla had burst in and interrupted me.  
I didn’t write much, just a quick update about Betty and Danny before I opened the other new email in my inbox. I only ever received emails from three people on this account as it was an encrypted email address, Dad, J.P, and The Elder Circle. This one was a payment email from the Circle, it must be for Betty’s hit and there were only three things written in it as per usual.  
  
Laura, H  
Payment, $100,000  
Contract Concluded  


Wait what? 100,000 dollars? I thought taking a sip of my soda. I hadn’t bothered to check the payment price when I took on the contract, just eager to follow Mothers trail. But wow, someone had really wanted Betty dead. The usual contract payed around $20,000-$30,000 dollars, and while it was true that supernatural hits tended to pay more than that, and Betty had been a witch, it was nowhere near the amount I would have estimated it to be.  
I didn’t have to check my bank account to know the money would be in there, it always was.  
And it wasn’t like I particularly needed the money, I’d already completed 127 hits this year alone but that amount of money was no small figure.

So it was with a smile on my face that I stood up, laptop and soda in hand and walked around the corner of the library. Promptly smashing into someone who happened to be jogging past and accidentally knocking them, and myself to the ground.  
I sprang back up to the balls of my feet agilely, my training had left me subconsciously preparing myself for an attack, before I realised it was Danny I’d crashed into. She was wearing jogging shoes, boy shorts and a tank top. Obviously out for a run.  
“Shit I’m sorry are you alright?” I asked as I relaxed my pose into a less aggressive one.  
Damn Hollis you came out of nowhere” she said a little pissed as I reached out a hand to help her up.  
“Sorry, really. I didn’t see you.” She brushed herself off a little once she was on her feet and that’s when she noticed the purple stain going down the front of her shirt.  
“It’s fine, Laura, Oh crap what the hell is this stuff?”  
“It’s uh... Grape soda, look I’m so so sorry, if you come to my dorm I’ll give you another top to wear and clean yours ok. I really didn’t mean to do that, Danny.”  
  
I thought I might have been laying the apologies on a little thick, but I had just ruined her top and it was never wise to piss off a werewolf.     
Her expression softened a little bit when I said her name, “No it’s really fine Laura, it’s just soda, but if it’s okay, can I swing by later with LaF? I’ve asked her to help us with our search and she’s been really helpful so far.”  
“Sure that’d be great.” I smiled up at her. Our eyes connected for a moment, and a blush creeped up on her face. It was pretty cute.  
“Cool, well I better finish my jog, get my cardio up higher than it already is. Cya later Laura” she said with a wink, sprinting off before I could reply.  
What did she mean by that? I puzzled as I picked up my laptop off the ground, not bothering with picking up the can.  
Littering was a minor sin compared to the things I’d done.  
Get her cardio higher than it already is? Danny had said. Does she mean that it was higher because I tripped her over, or did she mean because she was around me?  
I had a grin on my face as I made my way back towards my dorm and towards my new seriously annoying room mate.

\---

The door slammed behind Laura as she left. I heard her angry footsteps fade away, grape soda  
swishing around in the can with every step she took. And the further away she got, the more I found I could relax. Once I couldn’t hear her anymore, I sighed and slumped down on the bed next to Betty’s clothes. Resting my head against the uncomfortable headboard.  
  
I knew fear, I knew it well, it had been a close friend of mine over the years, and a friend to those who I’d encountered too. But I didn’t know why it was making an appearance now of all times.  
From the moment Laura and I had latched eyes, it hung in the air like a bad smell. Seeping into everything, seeping into me, clawing it’s way under my skin and I was sure if I had a beating heart, it would have frozen over. I couldn’t explain it I didn’t want to explain it.  
  
Her eyes, I saw them change when she caught my gaze, saw them widen in surprise and for a split second it had been like looking straight into her soul while she stared back at mine, the depths of her emotions so clear and easy to read. Fear, distrust, confusion, all aimed directly at me. It made me my knees weak, like this girl who I’d never met somehow instantly saw the darkness in me, saw me for who I was. But then her eyes had hardened, became cold and closed off and she fixated her stare on a point just above my shoulder, leaving me to wonder if I’d really seen anything at all.  
  
Don’t be such a poetic idiot Carmilla, I scolded myself, there’s no way any of that actually just happened. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong here. It didn’t help that she seemed familiar to me which was stupid, I’d never even seen her before.  
“Fuck this” I muttered under my breath, getting up from the bed. I was a vampire for Christ sakes, I didn’t let humans bother me, ever. And I had a job to do. The sooner I found a replacement for Betty the sooner I’d be able to leave this dilapidated excuse of a university, doing whatever I wanted for the next decade before I was forced back here in ten years for the next ritual.  
  
I continued to pick through Betty’s belongings, looking for any clues as to who might have killed her, and also keeping aside some choice clothes for myself. Yes I had a job to do, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t keep some spoils while I did it, I definitely made sure to keep the hot pink sequined shirt Laura had ripped out my hands earlier, positive that that would annoy her. I searched the entire side of the room that used to be Betty’s but found nothing. I deliberated searching Laura’s half too but the girl clearly knew nothing if she was expecting to find Betty.  
She was going to have a hard time kicking me out when the only person who could reclaim the room had been murdered in the woods off campus.  
  
I ran a hand irritably through my hair, attempting to tame the messy curls but they just fell straight back over my face. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to fix this mess, or tell Mother about it. I had just over two months until the next ritual and I had to find a replacement before then. But I had no idea where to start and there was nothing useful here. I hoped Will was having better luck on his end because we were screwed if he wasn’t.  
  
Maybe we should just tell Maman a small part of me quipped up. But I shut the thought down instantly. I could handle Mothers beatings, I’d been handling them for centuries. They were a bearable pain that never lasted long, always severe but always swift. And In her own fucked up way I knew that that was one of Mothers methods of showing affection, she spoke words of admiration to us while she pulled her hand back to strike another blow. She loved us with kind words and feather light touches, even as she hurt us for doing something wrong. Comforting us with gifts after a particularly bad session and helping us clean up with gentle hands when she was done. She’d shaped Will and I into deadly weapons, each of us carefully hand crafted by her though years and years of blood and pain. Our very existence was owed to her, and she knew it. She owned us, and we would never fight her. And yet, we still loved her.  
  
So yes, I could handle the beatings. But I couldn’t handle the coffin, not again, never again, and I was sure she wouldn’t hesitate to put me back there, buried under the earth, and maybe even Will too if we didn’t fix this.  
I _couldn’t_ go thought that again. It had driven me insane once before, I _wouldn’t_ let myself be put through that again.  
The decades of silent torture, knowing I was I was slowly losing my mind as the hallucinations became more and more realistic, but being unable to do anything about it. Finding myself trapped in vivid memories only to surface after days, months, and years to find myself back in that coffin, drenched once again in blood, none of it having been real.  
I used to scream at first. I must have screamed for months after they first locked me away, and again whenever I crashed back into reality from my dreams. But it was pointless, the blood always seeped into everything, everywhere, forcing its way down my throat and filling my lungs until I could make no sound at all.  
  
I choked silently for years on that thick rotting blood that engulfed me entirely. I don’t know how long I tried to feel anything other than the blood, to hear anything other than silence, but here was no escape, only blood, only silence.  
Eventually I gave up and began to welcome the relief the visions gave me. Finally choosing a world that wasn’t real over the hell that was my reality.  
It had been a torture like none other Maman had ever inflicted on me before.  
  
And after my prison had been ripped open by bombs and warfare, I couldn’t find it in myself to even move, believing it to be just another hallucination. I saw the moonlight, felt rain on my face and the air in my lungs. But I couldn’t get my hopes up, couldn’t believe any of it to be real. I thought the stars were the most beautiful things I’d ever seen and I watched them for hours until dawn broke. But it wasn’t until a foolish soldier had tried to help me ‘the poor girl trapped on the battle field’ that I finally realised I was free. I’d hunted down every living person near me that morning. Relishing in the taste of fresh blood, all my senses over stimulated after being numb for so long. It was an intensity I hadn’t known before or since or probably ever would again.  
   
Maman eventually found me in Paris some years later, and she’d told me to come back to her, promising me she’d never put me back down there again. She made it seem like a choice, but there never really was one with Mother, You were either with her, or you were expendable. I didn’t believe her promise, I never trusted her again. But still like a fool I went back to Austria with her, I had just gotten back to the real world, I wasn’t in a hurry to die and leave it again so soon.  
  
A sudden and loud bang from somewhere down the hall snapped me out of my thoughts and brought me back to reality.  
Shit, how long had I been standing here looking like an idiot and getting wrapped up in my past? Too long, God I was such a nostalgic fool.  
Today was a really weird day, I needed a distraction. So I headed out to find Will. We needed to fix this.  
I couldn’t go back there again  
I couldn’t.  
I steeled my shoulders and walked out the room.  
I had a job to do.

\---  
  
I found Will sitting on the lawn outside the Zeta’s house with S.J and Natalie. The two girls he’d singled out as his targets. One girl was draped in his lap and the other pressed up against his side clinging to his arm.  
Ugh gross, I thought, that was one thing I didn’t like about picking out targets. The first dose of poison we had to administer made them extremely clingy. I mean sure it was logical, you didn’t want your target running away once you’d singled them out, but they attached themselves to whomever had administered it and rarely left their sight. I hated it, it was one of the reasons why I’d already handed over my two targets. Will on the other hand seemed to love it, he had a stupid smug grin on his face as I walked up to them.  
“Hey kitty cat” He greeted.  
“Can I borrow you for a second William?” I demanded rather than asked.  
The two girls made unintelligible whines of protest as Will stood up.  
“I’ll be right back babes. Look Kirsch is over there, go play with him until I get back”  
“Fine, but hurry back”, S.J pouted, before grabbing Natalie’s hand running over to were Kirsch was.  
  
“Ugh I don’t know how you’ve put up with those two for so long” I said exasperatedly as I turned and walked away, expecting Will to follow.  
“Hey I can’t help it if two hot babes want to spend all their time with me right? The attention is great!”  
“Yeah I bet. It mustn’t be something you’re used to seeing as you can’t get anyone else into your bed other than those two, who you had to drug just to achieve that might I add.”  
“Ouch Kitty cat has her claws out today”  
I didn’t reply, just walked us over to a nearby tree that was out of ear shot of anyone.  
“Look I’m here because I just searched Betty’s room-”  
“And?” He asked eyes lighting up hopefully as he interrupted me.  
“And I found nothing.” Will’s eyes dimmed a little, “I mean it’s pretty obvious that Betty hadn’t planned on getting herself killed”, I continued. “But there was nothing left in her room. No clues as to who might have killed her, and she didn’t have a laptop so that avenue was a dead end. There might have been something on her phone but I’m going to assume she had that on her when she died.  
“Yeah she did, I saw her with it at the party” Will said frowning.  
“Great so we have nothing then.”  
“Well maybe not nothing, I’ve been looking into it a bit, and as far as I know there are only four ‘companies’ Will said figure quoting the air as he said the word, “that specialise in supernatural kills and would be professional enough to pull of that type of high grade hit whilst also covering their tracks and sent so completely.  
“And who would they be then?” I asked.  
“Dark brotherhood, Blackheart Elwynn, Elder Circle, and Morag Tong. Now can you think of any of those Assassin guilds that might have it out for us, and want to sabotage Mother dearest’s ritual?”  
“Oh shit” I said exhaling all the air in my lungs.  
“Yeah” Will agreed. “Oh shit”    

\---

Laf, Danny and I were crowded around the tiny desk in my room, staring at a piece of paper with lines, letters and numbers on it that only LaF seemed to understand. Carmilla was out somewhere and we’d been here for hours trying to find a connection between the missing girls. But the only connection we’d found so far was that all three of them had been taken on full moons, they’d included Betty in their comparisons and I wasn’t going to tell them anything otherwise. So I helped them map out possible interactions, class time tables, party schedules for all three to see if anything overlapped anywhere. It was long and tiring work, so LaF had decided to take a break and talk us through some samples they’d found from the girls, although they didn’t say how or where they’d managed to find these samples.  
  
“So you’re saying that it’s some kind of drug then?” Danny asked.  
“More like, I don’t know, a poison? But not the whole dosage… I think. See here there’s gaps in the RNA sequence which makes it seem like there’s something missing, like it needs another component to be complete”  
None of what LaF was pointing out on the page made any sense to me but I kinda understood what she was trying to say.”  
“So you think that someone gave them this, poison or whatever, and then later on kidnapped them to give them the rest? I asked.  
“Yeah, well obviously we have no concrete proof of that, but it seems likely yeah.”  
“How did you find this though? Like what even did you use to get the sample from?”  
Danny and LaF exchanged a look.  
  
“It’s um… Well it was found in each of the missing girls dorm rooms and I’m pretty sure it came from them, because it’s… well… Cerebral spinal fluid… The liquid found in your brain.” LaF said rather awkwardly.  
“Oh. I um, oh, ok then” I replied, not really knowing how to respond to that.  
“Did you find any in here after Betty disappeared?” Danny asked me.  
“Uh no, I didn’t sorry. Could I um, keep this?” I asked LaF pointing to the sheet.  
“Sure I have digital copies, I’m trying to run the poison though various tests to try and figure out what’s in it so I’ll let you know if anything comes through with that.”  
“That’d be awesome, thanks LaF”  
Danny yawned and I checked the time, nearly 11pm.  
“Crap you guys, it’s getting late and Danny, we have Lit class in the morning.” I said pointing out the time to them.  
“Yeah you’re right” Danny replied stifling another yawn, “We’d better go hey LaF”  
“Yup, cool we’ll I guess we’ll see you later on Laura” LaF said as they got up and stretched before making their way with Danny over to the door.  
“Bye guys” I said as they closed the door behind them. I stood up and cleared the desk, putting the sheet LaF left behind in my bag. I stood in front of the wardrobe, debating whether or not to go out and train, but with Carmilla’s whereabouts unknown it really wasn’t a wise idea. She could come back at any time and find me gone, which wouldn’t look too good.  
I sighed and went to the bathroom to shower instead. I’d really liked it when I’d had the room to myself and could do as I pleased, when I pleased. Now, I had Miss Snark to deal with.  
I thought about her a little as I washed, thinking about the way she’d made me feel, it had been so… Uncomfortable. But I decided not to let it get to me, sure she was annoying as hell but she wasn’t a threat…    
I got out the shower, and got into bed, noting that Carmilla still wasn’t back yet.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your feedback is always appreciated. <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, got swamped with Uni work due before break.

That night I had my first nightmare.  
I dreamt of a city in darkness, pierced only by the star light from the black skies above, of the streets being slick with red. And faceless men, women and beasts standing in alley ways silent and unmoving, just watching as a blood clad figure sprinted down the street in a panicked, wild manor.  
Blood coated the figure from head to toe, dripping in thick streaks down their face, flicking from their fingers and splattering off their feet onto the pavement below.  
Where each deep red drop landed on the cold stone, a puddle would begin to form. Growing and expanding wider and wider, until it began to join other puddles. An ocean of crimson forming in the sprinting figures wake.  
The figure tried to escape, but every time they tried to turn down a street or run down an alley way, they found themselves blocked by one of the shadowy observers. The ghosts would leer and laugh staring at the figure with shining orbs for eyes before pushing them away. Forcing them in only direction left to run, away from the blood. The figure kept up their maddened sprint, splashing messily through the now one inch high blood that surrounded them everywhere.  
But the blood began to catch up. Eventually the figure was running through it ankle deep, then shin deep.  
Soon the figure began to tire, the blood started to catch up quicker, and the watching shadows around them began to laugh harder. Louder this time, a chorus of shared sadistic glee at the misfortune of the figure struggling before them. The blood crept the figures waist and rose up their chest, too thick to swim through. The figure opened their mouth to scream, and a familiar shriek came out of their mouth.  
My shriek. My scream.  
Suddenly I wasn’t watching the helpless figure anymore, I was the figure. And all at once the ghosts surrounding me became l faces I recognised. Every face I saw was a face I knew. I’d memorised each and every one of them, because I’d killed each and every one of them.  
The blood was all around me and was fast rising up to my neck. My arms and legs flailed uselessly in the hot thick mess, and the ghosts manic shrieks began to match my own in volume. Only difference being mine were in terror, and theirs were in glee.  
I wondered how long they had waited to see this. See me take my last breath, just like I had seen theirs.  
I screamed until the blood filled my mouth and I was cut off suddenly, choking as the coppery taste passed through my mouth and into my lungs. I was drowning. Drowning in blood.  
Just before the blood covered my eyes, I looked up and saw a beautiful pitch black panther sitting on a windowsill out of reach of the blood. It’s tail flicked lazily as it stared at me viciously, I realised it had my mothers pale blue eyes.  
The panther opened its massive jaws to roar but the blood had covered my ears and only sound that came out was…  
  
A cell ringtone.  
I bolted upright in bed, my chest heaving and covered in sweat. My damp tank top clinging to my skin and my hair sticking to my face.  
As I gasped violently and tried to remember where I was, my cell phone rang again.  
I reached over to grab it, right I was in my dorm room at Silas. It was just a dream, only a dream Hollis. You’re okay, it wasn’t real. I checked my phone to see who was calling.  
  
J.P: 6:37am.  
  
Across the darkened room, I was suddenly distracted by Carmilla muttering angrily in her sleep and rolling over to face the wall. Her back was turned to me, and her blanket had slipped down to her stomach, revealing the smooth toned skin on her back and shoulder blades.  
She was only wearing a black bra that contrasted with her pale skin, the light from my cell phone illuminating the room just enough to see her by. The light switched off suddenly, plunging the room into darkness again and indicating I’d just missed the call. Shit.  
I got up out of bed to go shower, knowing after a dream like that, that sleep was a lost cause. I’d call Jeep back when I was feeling more myself.  
  
I tried to talk myself down in the shower. I’d had nightmares before, they were nothing new, and they tended to pick up in frequency as I drew closer to the anniversary of my Mothers death.  
So really I should have expected it. The thing I didn’t expect was the ghosts.  
I had never felt even slightly guilty for the hits I had completed. Never felt remorse for any of my kills and I wasn’t about to start now. So why were they in my dream? I was expecting the Panther. That often appeared in my nightmares, but not the ghosts.  
   
God the past couple of days had been so weird. It was hard to maintain my - ‘Sweet and innocent Laura Philips’ persona when the real Laura Hollis felt like things were starting to come apart.  
I always had my emotions kept under lock and key but yesterday, I’d been thrown out by Carmilla for no apparent reason, my facade had slipped momentarily, and now the dream? I needed to keep focus. While I was here at Silas, I wasn’t Laura Hollis anymore, I was enrolled as Laura Philips, and I needed to act the part.  
I finished my shower, and felt a little more grounded now that I was clean.  
  
After I was dressed I went outside the dorm building to call J.P back, not wanting Carmilla to wake up and possibly overhear anything.  
It was a frosty morning, the cold air stung my face a little bit and each breath I took caused a puff of steam to dissipate in the air around my face. But it was nice, and I spent a few minutes watching the day go from black to grey as the sun began to come up, just enjoying the peacefulness.  
I dialled J.Ps number and he answered after the first couple of rings.  


“L Bear! What are you doing today?” he asked enthusiastically.  
“Good morning to you too Jeep” I replied stifling a yawn.  
“Oh right, yes, terribly sorry. Good morning, Laura, I hope you’ve been well since I saw you last”.  
I laughed. For someone so deadly, J.P was awfully polite.  
“Thanks Jeep. How did um, the ‘garbage’ disposal go the other night?”  
“Oh swell, swell. The wicked witch of the East has been melted. Although she didn’t cry out ‘I’m melting! I’m melting’ like in The Wizard of Oz.”  
“That joke was absolutely terrible, up your game jeep”  
“I try” He replied, and I could practically hear his grin through the phone.  
“Anyway L bear I’m calling for another reason other than to discuss last weeks hit.”  
“Yes, I replied. “What exactly did possess you to call me at 6:30 in the morning?”  
“What are you up to today?” He asked again, “I have a surprise for you, and yes sorry for the early call. I got a little excited.”  
“Um I have a class this morning but that should be finished around 10:30, why what’s the surprise?”  
“Well it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you now would it? Meet me at 11 in the woods off campus, just next to the highway. You’re aware of the location I’m talking about right? It’s on the maps.”  
“Yeah I’m pretty sure I know the spot, Jeep, I’ll be there. I also actually have something I need you to look into for me while we’re at it”  
“Splendid! Looking forward to it, L bear, I’ll see you at 11.”  
“Bye Jeep”, I said grinning as I hung up the phone. He didn’t even ask what it was I needed his help with and he was already down to do it. One of the many reasons why I loved that kid.  
  
\---  
  
Class passed rather uneventfully; I’d already studied English Lit at Elderberry Academy so I didn’t really pay much attention to what was going on in class, it was only a lecture on Beowulf. I mainly just watched Danny to be honest. As I walked across campus grounds to where I supposed to meet J.P, still tired from my nightmare. I wondered if I’ be able to get her in bed without any messy attachments or whether she would something more substantial than just sex,  
That wouldn’t do at all. I often picked up girls whilst on assignment, but it was never anything more than a one night stand. I wasn’t really the relationship type, and even if I was, I would have to hide the truth about myself and my career from anyone I dated. I couldn’t exactly tell anyone the truth now could I? And even if I did, who would want to love a monster like me?  
No one.  
If there’s anything I’ve learned about myself and about people who live their lives like I do,  
it’s that monsters don’t get to live happily ever afters.  
I was pretty distracted by my suddenly morbid thoughts and so I didn’t hear Kirsch calling out my name until he was practically right next to me, two girls I didn’t recognise tagging along behind him.  
  
“Hey little hottie”  
“Hey Kirsch” I replied, trying not to sound too annoyed that he never called me by my actual name  
“Sooooo, you seem really smart, and I noticed we’re in the same Lit class. I was wondering if you’d be able to help me out with this Beaobab assignment? Oh and Little hottie, these are my friends S.J and Natalie, he gestured from me to each of the girls as he made introductions.  
“It’s Beowulf”, I corrected him, looking at S.J and Natalie with a fake grin plastered on my face.  
“And my names Laura, it’s nice to meet you both.”    
“Hey Laura!” They both said at the same time.  
Both the girls had bubbly personalities, they seemed nice enough.  
“Right Beowulf, see I knew you were smart!” Kirsch continued.  
I sighed internally. Kirsch was like a big cute idiotic puppy dog, Couldn’t help but want to help him out.  
“Come by my dorm sometime, room 307. Sorry but I gotta go, I’m needed elsewhere” I said with a quick smile and a wave as I started walking away,  
“Ohkay cool, see ya little hottie” a little surprised at my sudden exit.  
  


I got the meeting point by the side of the highway a few minutes shy of 11. Not knowing what kind of car J.P would be driving, I just hung in the tree line out of sight.  
Right at 11 a sleek dark matt grey Mercedes pulled up near me with the engine left running, and the door was thrown open. I quickly made my way over to the flashy sports car and got in.  
“Really Jeep” I said as I shut the door behind me. “This is the car you chose? Wouldn’t something a little more inconspicuous have been better?  
“You know me and my cars L bear” he said happily, handing me a cup of coffee as he drove back onto the highway, accelerating quickly. “Latte extra shot” Jeep said as I took a sip of the coffee.  
“You know me too well. So, where are we headed?”    
  
  
J.P’s surprise turned out to be a little auto shop on the outskirts of town. He didn’t say exactly how he had acquired a fully stocked garage, cars and everything. But it wasn’t hard to guess judging by the suspiciously large amount of empty bottles stacked near the bin. I didn’t even need to read the labels to know they all said Hydrochloric acid.  
  
“So I take it you’re planning on sticking around for a bit then?” I said after Jeep had given me a quick tour or the place, it was pretty nice shop and it had an even nicer apartment the floor above it which J.P was currently living in and where we were both currently sitting.  
“Yeah I think I will.” Jeep said as he got up and pulled out a bottle of whiskey down from a neaby shelf “and It’s not every day you get a chance to have a crack at a coven of Vampires.” He laughed, as he poured two generous drinks. “Plus it means I’ll get to spend more time with you, and we haven’t done that in a while.”  
  
Jeep was right, it had been at least a few months since they’d spent a good amount of time together, or even been in the same city as each other. But I knew he was staying here for me, to help me. He knew everything about my family and was my oldest, and well, only friend. He knew what this meant to me, he knew the danger, and he was still willing to help.    
A genuine smile crept up on my face and I let it stay there. I accepted the drink from Jeep, finding comfort in the familiar burn and warmth the drink gave. I noticed J.P had just put the bottle on the table between us instead of returning it to the shelf.  
  
Just then J.P’s phone buzzed signalling a text message, and a second Later I felt mine buzz in my pocket too. “This weeks contracts?” I asked. Not bothering to get my phone out of my pocket because J.P was already reading it from his.  
”Yep.” He said looking up at me, “say wanna work on a couple of these together he asked?” a mischievous grin slowing spreading on his face.  
I felt a grin of my own spread on my face, matching J.P’s  
“I’d love to.”  
  
 ---   

“This can’t be all there is” I exclaimed angrily, throwing the feeble pile of papers back on the desk. Will didn’t even look up from the file he was reading. “That’s everything we could find Kitty cat, not so much as a glimmer of a sighting in ten years.”  
I ran my hand through my hair, trying (and failing) to brush it out of my face.  
“That’s bullshit, there’s no way someone like that just falls off the face of the Earth without a trace, not a man like him.”    
“I know” Will sighed, finally looking away from the file he’s been studying all night. “Seriously, this guy was the best assassin we’d seen in years remember? Of course he’s not going to be found if he doesn’t want to be.  
“It’s just. Surely there’s more than this. We just aren’t digging deep enough.”  
All they had to go on were ten year old documents of a Jake Hollis, his old address and the public record of his marriage to one Ashley Mason. Mr and Mrs Hollis, both working for the Elder circle, happily married without kids until Mrs Hollis’s untimely death ten years ago.  
  
“Are you even sure it’s him? Betty could have been a one time hit” Will asked sifting a yawn with his hand.  
It was only 10pm and we were in the library, practically breakfast time for them, and Will was already tired. Christ. “I mean yes I know he has the motive considering we practically butchered his wife, but let’s be honest, Corvae has made a whole stack of enemies over the centuries. What make you so sure it’s this one guy?”  
  
“Just the timing of it really” I said, “I feel like he’s been biding his time waiting specifically for this.  Plus you were there when it happened, you saw his face. Someone damaged like that doesn’t just lay down quietly without a fight.”  
Will didn’t reply straight away, I knew his thoughts were where mine were, flashing back years to the look of anger and desperation that had contorted the man’s face as we pulled his wife away from him for what would be the last time.  
  
“Well, if you’re right, we aren’t going to be able to find him through the normal means so we should get the ghouls down in IT scanning hit contracts, death statistics and missing person’s reports for signs of high grade professional kits. If he’s been active he shouldn’t be too hard to spot, His kill track record was incredible and it was how we found him last time. If he’s been active, we’ll use it to find him again.     
  
\---  
  
LaF sat in the small science lab that over some months had become unofficially theirs. I lounged in the chair opposite them while I waited for them to finish pouring the slightly green, slightly smoking liquid into the several small bottles they had lined up on their desk.  
“Thanks for doing this again Laf” I said.  
“Yes well, can’t have you nearly erupting out of your skin every time a pretty girl tries to dance with you, can we now?” They laughed.  
“Hey, shut up it was a full moon okay!” I shot back feeling my check bones getting hot.  


LaF was the only person at Silas who knew about my… Condition. I’d only been a werewolf about a year now, I got bitten on a stupid solo hiking trip I should never have gone on in the first place. But no point getting pissed about it now.  
LaF had found out after she had found me half shifted and chained to a tree one morning in the woods outside Silas. It was my shitty attempt at keeping my wolf form from doing any damage, and it didn’t really work, I woke up to Laf treating the raw bleeding wounds all over my body from where my wolf-self had tried to tear itself free of the restraints.  
It had been months since then, and now we were actually really good friends, LaF make a concoction that kept me from changing every month and in return I let them run whatever tests or take whatever samples they wanted from me. I’d practically run out of the stuff which is why I had come so close to shifting at the party in front of Laura.  
  
“Could you imagine if you had shifted whilst dancing with Laura though?” LaF continued laughing. “She’d turn around to face you only to find herself staring at a giant dog. I bet she’d spiral into a panic like a headless chicken and faint”  
We both laughed, I could definitely picture that happening, Laura just radiated this cute and dorky naïve personality. I couldn’t picture her handling anything that cast a shadow on her bright view of the world. She made want to protect her, the animalistic side of me coming out a little with that feeling.  


LaF finished filling the bottles and handed them over to me, “All yours Danny, this should help you keep it in your pants next time. Literally”.  
I didn’t even bother to reply to that.

  
\---

 

I purred, stomach laid flat on the branch I was resting on, all four of my giant paws hung down in the air moving slightly with the breeze as I hummed contentedly. I’d left Will a few hours ago when he went off to go find the IT ghouls. I’d thought about going back to the dorm but Laura might be there, and I didn’t really feel like dealing with the way my stomach twisted whenever I was around her. So I’d ended up in a tree just outside of campus in my panther form. It had to be pretty late at night, a good time to be out as my cat form because less people would be out this late at night. Not that anyone would probably even question seeing a giant black cat on campus what with all the weird shit that happened at this godforsaken university.  
  
I stayed content in my tree for a while just listening to the forest around me until I felt a raindrop splash against my snout. Crap. I stood up and stretched before jumping down to the ground to where I’d put my clothes. By the time I had shifted back to my human body and gotten dressed. It had begun to rain more heavily, new heavy clouds making the dark night even darker as they blocked out what little light had been shining down from the sky above. I started heading back to my dorm walking fast but the rain went from a slight shower to an absolute downpour and I was absolutely drenched and absolutely irritable by the time I made it back to the dorm. I didn’t even bother to shut the door quietly behind me as I stomped inside and began taking my wet clothes off. I half expected Laura to wake up and get shitty at me for waking her, but when I glanced over to her bed, she was sprawled out, fully clothed and on top of her covers snoring very quietly. I paused a moment and the smell of alcohol reached me, I snorted. The Creampuff was drunk and it wasn’t even the weekend yet. I grabbed some boy shorts and a tank top from the closet and put them quickly. About to get into bed I suddenly paused when I heard a nearly unintelligible whimper from across the room. I looked over and saw a slight crease appear in Laura’s forehead as she frowned in her sleep, a shiver running across the tiny girls’ body as she changed her position to curl in on herself.    
  
She’s having a nightmare, I thought to myself. I debated ignoring her, just getting into bed and trying to sleep but instead I found myself pulling out a spare blanket from the back of the wardrobe and draping it over the tiny sleeping figure. It seemed to calm her down a little, she clutched at it blindly and instantly pulled it over her head.  
I walked back over to my bed and got in, facing the wall. After a few minutes I turned around and watched the small lump of blankets that was Laura, rise and fall slightly with each breath she took. Why had I even helped the girl? It’s not my problem if she gets so drunk she can’t figure out how to use her own bed. I don’t know why I bothered.  
But I couldn’t deny that a part of me felt better knowing she was at least warm now. I sighed. This was infuriating. She was infuriating. I rolled back over to face the wall, and fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up to a shrill beeping coming from my alarm clock, and sunlight streaming in through the window. I’d had another nightmare and a really shitty sleep and being woken up wasn’t helping my mood. The god awful alarm made my head throb with every beep but I lay unmoving while it just kept blaring. I couldn’t find it in myself to raise my arm enough to turn it off. Jeep and I had gotten ridiculously drunk last night and now I was clearly suffering for it.  
The alarm meant I had class soon, but I instantly decided there was no way I was leaving this bed for any reason.

“Are you going to turn that off?” Carmilla muttered angrily from under her covers.  
I just groaned.  
I heard her shift around in bed then a loud thud and a smash as something knocked my alarm clock on the ground, breaking it.    
I just huffed quietly.   
I couldn’t really find it in myself to care right now that Carmilla had broken it. I was just thankful the noise had stopped.   
I shoved my head under my pillow and passed out again instantaneously.

When I woke again my headache had lessened slightly but not by much, I was still in a shitty mood. I reached up blindly next to my bed for my water bottle and pulled it back under the pillow to where my head still was, drinking thirstily.  
  
“Morning sundance” I heard Carmilla say.   
  
I lifted my head out from under the pillow and looked towards her, she was lying on her bed reading a book. My eyes caught the broken clock on the ground.  
  
“You owe me a new alarm clock.” I said.  
“And you owe me the sleep I lost because of it”. She snapped back.  
  
I went to get out of bed and that’s when I noticed that the spare blanket from the wardrobe was draped over me.  
“Did you do this?” I said, gesturing to the blanket.  
“Yes well, couldn’t have you passed out drunk and catching a cold that might keep you in this dorm any longer than absolutely necessary”.  
Wow ok. Rude much?  
  
“Well thanks” I said, trying to be civil as I made my way over to the bathroom to shower and possibly vomit.  
“Whatever Creampuff”  
“My name’s Laura.”  
“Ok Cupcake”  
I shut the bathroom door behind me a little harder than intended and heard her muffled laugh come from the other side.  


I did end up unceremoniously vomiting in the shower, and the whiskey burnt just as bad coming up as it had going down.  I went back into the room and downed some Advil for my headache and checked the time, nearly 4pm. I needed to meet Jeep in an hour.  
“There better not be vomit in the shower when I go to have one later.” Carmila said unmoving on her bed, not even looking up from her book.  
  
Crap, she heard me. Of course she did, it’s not exactly like I was quiet about it. I sighed and sat down on my bed opening up my laptop to check my emails. I needed to get my gear before I went to meet J.P but I couldn’t do that with Carmilla in the room so I’d just have to wait and hope she left before I did. I really should have gotten it ready last night but I’d been too drunk to even attempt that.   
  
I fidgeted on the bed as I replied to a new email from my dad. The hangover and the anticipation for tonight had left me tense, irritated and on edge. I really needed Carmilla out of the room so I could get ready, so I began tapping my finger against the side of my computer, a quiet persistent tap, just loud enough to be annoying.   
  
After a few minutes I saw her shift in annoyance.   
After about ten minutes I heard her sigh.   
  
“Can you stop that incessant tapping?”   
  
“Sorry, nervous habit” I lied

“Yeah well it’s annoying so stop.”  
  
“Sorry”  
  
I waited a few minutes until I could see that she was focused on her book again before I began to tap my foot against the wall gently.  
It only took a couple of minutes before she dropped her book on her chest and looked over at me, clearly irritated.

“Can you not?”  
“What? Oh right sorry!” I said feigning ignorance and stopping my tapping again.  
  
The next time I left it 10 minutes before I went back to tapping against my laptop. Almost instantaneously she closed her book and jumped off the bed.  
  
“Jesus Christ you are infuriating, I’m going somewhere where I can actually read in peace.”   
  
I tried to keep the grin off my face as she walked out the door and slammed it behind her.  
  
I checked the time again and realised I only had 20 minutes before I had to meet Jeep. “Shit”. I jumped off my bed and grabbed my uniform and my favourite dagger from their hiding places.   
  
The elder uniform basically just consisted of tightly fitting black jeans, black boots and gloves, a long sleeved black top, and an attachable hood and mask that could cover the face entirely. To anyone looking at it, it would seem like a completely normal outfit, but what made these clothes unique, is that they were made using diamond thread. This meant they were extremely flexible, durable and light weight but also incredibly strong. The clothes might not stop a bullet, but they would stop a knife and many other wounds from reaching their mark. It was custom for Elder assassins to wear the uniform whilst completing a hit, but I had customised mine a little bit.  
   
After my mum was killed, Papa gave up completing contacts, he stayed on the council but if he ever killed it was for independent reasons and so he never wore his uniform. He knew I’d always loved his uniform, it was Black with intricate red patterns spiralling all over it. They laced up his back and over his biceps, circling over the eyes of his mask and hood giving the impression that his eyes under the mask were blood red. So He’d given me his mask and hood when I’d graduated from training. It had been his trademark for years, and now it was mine too.      
  
I shoved all the gear I would need in a bag and made sure everything in my room was hidden exactly as it had been, before I dashed out the door to meet J.P.  
  
\---

Laf and I were in her dorm room watching nextflix when they asked,  
  
“So have you made any more progress on the missing girls with Laura yet?”  
  
“No I actually haven’t seen her in a couple days and we haven’t made more plans yet to meet up”  
  
“Wasn’t she supposed to be in your class today?”  
  
“Yeah she was but she wasn’t there.”  
  
Laura had been strangely absent from my English class today, she hadn’t missed a single class until now, and I wondered if something might be wrong.  
  
“Do you think I should go check on her?” I asked.  
  
“Nah, I’m sure she’s fine Danny, but I’m kinda over this movie, did you wanna do some more research on the disappearances?” They asked me.   
  
If there was one thing Laf loved doing, It was researching.  
  
“Sure Laf.” I said as I pulled my notes from my bag.

 

 ---  


Mr and Mrs Mason had been having dinner when we arrived, roast pork from the smell of it. It must have been quite a good meal because both of them were too busy eating to notice our arrival until it was too late.   
They were both bound and gagged now, each sitting on a chair facing the other in the dark living room. It had been a few hours since Jeep and I had captured them, nearing midnight. And we were biding our time letting the fear sink in.   
This was a specific requirement for this particular contract. Whoever had placed the hit had wanted these people to be terrified before they died.   
That was fine with us.   
We’d spent the last few hours teasing and tormenting them mentally. Telling them exactly what was going to happen to them, what we were going to do. Explaining the various processes we would use in gory detail.    
We looked around their house, shifting through photos of the couple and showing them everything they had and were going to lose. Jeep was particularly good at this, he calmly walked around them and explained in a gentle voice how this was going to play out. How we would get away with this because this would just be another clear case of domestic violence.   
  
“That you Mr Mason just snapped, beating your wife before shooting her and turning the gun on yourself.”  
J.P walked over so that he was standing behind the terrified man, he lent down until his mouth was by his ear and said softly “It would be a tragedy. Your neighbours, friends and family would be shocked. How could this man have done something like that? But we don’t make mistakes, and no one is going to look past our display for the truth. You’ll be remembered as a monster, and we will be walking free. Case closed.”     
  
I mostly let J.P talk while I waited, watching the couple lose a little more hope with every passing hour until I knew it was time.   
“Stand her up Jeep”  
  
I walked over to Mr Mason while Jeep untied his wife, and I grabbed his chin forcing him to look into my red eyes hidden beneath the mask. “You will watch this.” I simply stated before turning to face Mrs Mason. Jeep let her go and she instantly tried to run for the door, she made it about three steps before I tackled her to the ground and pinned her there. She struggled underneath me but it was no use, I was too strong. I looked over to Jeep and saw that he was making sure Mr Mason was watching every second of what was happening. I looked back down at the shaking girl beneath me and wondered where to start, I knew every weak spot a human had, the areas and nerves most sensitive to pain, and where exactly I needed to bruise to cause the most discomfort. I single tear rolled down the woman’s face and I smiled under my mask. I’d been looking forward to this all day.  
  
I let my frustrations flow.   
  
A few hours later and I was done, Mrs Mason’s body a canvas of bruises. Blotches of all kinds of colours blending together to form art, Yellows and purples, greens, blues, black and red painting my favourite kind of picture and the bloodstained white carpet she was lying on was the perfect backdrop.   
I picked up the gun that belonged to Mr Mason and walked over to him, he didn’t even look at me. He just stared at his wife, silent tears running down his face as he watched her take what would be her last few shallow breaths.  
He had watched the entire thing like I’d demanded, and now he knew that it was nearly over. He didn’t even try to resist when I opened his hand and pressed his fingerprints to the handle. His knuckles were stiff and wouldn’t bend properly due to J.P smashing them repeatedly until some of them broke. It was case of domestic violence after all.   
  
I nodded to J.P and he pulled Mr Mason into a standing positing, untying his bonds in the process. The broken man didn’t try to move, we had fulfilled our contract to the letter, and he had accepted his fate. He just stood and stared at his beaten wife with a dead blank stare.    
  
Jeep calmly took the chairs back to the dinning room placing them back at the table and when he was ready I lifted Mr Mason’s hand with the gun still in it and put his finger on the trigger.  
I aimed his arm and shot a single bullet into the base of his wife’s head.  
I raised the gun higher and made sure I caught the moment in the mans eyes when his heart broke.  
I almost wondered if I was doing him a favour by pulling the trigger for a second time.  
  
J.P and I left their house a little while later and I was feeling better than I had all day.


End file.
